Centerboard for vessels



N. PRATT.

` ACPPLYING GENTBRBOARDS To VBSSBLS. Y No. 23,114. Patented Main l, 1859.

Avv.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

NOAH PRATT, OF NICHOLSON, PENNSYLVANIA.

CENTERBOARD FOR VESSELS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 23,114, dated March 1, 18591.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NOAH PRATT, of Nicholson, in the county of Wyoming and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Application of Centerboards to Vessels; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in Which- Figure l, is a central longitudinal vertical section of a vessel, with my improvements. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same. Fig. 3, is a plan of the same. y

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all of the figures.

This invention consists in providing for t-he taking-up of the center board and placing it on the deck of the vessel for repairs or for any other purpose, by applying it within a movable box or curb, which is fitted to a well-hole or stationary curb provided in the vessel, and which can be lifted from said Wellhole with the center board and the contrivances for operating the same.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A,'A, is the well-hole or stationary curb built into the vessel and made perfectly tight.

C, C, is the movable box or curb to which the center board D is fitted and secured, said box or curb being fitted snugly into the stationary curb or well-hole so as to be capable of being lifted out therefrom and dropped thereinto by suitable hoisting tackle. The said inner box or curb may be secured in its place within the stationary curb or Well-hole by bolts or other fastenings of suitable character.

The center board D, is or may be of the common form and is hung on a strong pin or bolt a, which passes transversely through it and through the box or curb C. It has attached a rod b, which is operated to raise and lower it through the bottom of the vessel in the usual manner. It has also applied to it a forked lever E, through which the pin a, passes, said lever receiving the center board within its fork 0, c. This lever is fitted so loosely to the pin a, as to be capable of a lateral movement thereon. The interior of the box orvcurb C, is made narrowest at the center of its length Where it is only just wide enough for the lever E, to work freely up and down and from the center toward each end it is widened as shown in Fig. 8, to permit the lever to be moved in a lateral direction to set the center board obliquely to the central plane of the vessel as illustrated in Fig. 3, Where the center board is shown so set in red outline.

To provide for securing the center board either while set directly fore and aft, as seen in black outline in Fig. 3, or obliquely thereto, there is secured to the end of the box C, C, a stationary plate F arranged transversely of the vessel, and containing three notches cl, d, cl, in either of which the lever E, can be placed. While in the central one, the center board ranges with the central plane of the vessel like a common center board, but by raising the said lever therefrom and placing it in one or other of the outside notches, the center obliquely in one or the other direction, to the central plane. The rod passes through the fork c, @,of the lever E.

By setting the center board by means of the lever E, so that its front end inclines to Windward, lthe vessel will be enabled to sail -closer on a wind, and hence the vessel is much more under control and enabled to be kept from a lee shore. The oblique direction of the center board must be changed every time the vessel is in stays. As an auxiliary to this adjustable center board, IV

propose to make the cutwater or a portion thereof movable like a rudder, that it may be set to Windward like the center board in sailing on a wind.

G, is a movable cutwater, and H, I, gearing for setting the same.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

Applying the center board and the appliances for operating the same in a movable box or curb which is so fitted into a wellhole or a stationary curb built into the vessel as to be capable of being lifted out of said Well-hole or curb with the center board and all its appliances, substantially as herein described.

NOAH PRATT. Witnesses:

C. B. BALDWIN, E. N. BACON. 

